New life for The White Hart.

The photo above shows a rather unusual view of Erith Post Office and the adjacent HQ for local company WDS Signs - who make signs for display in public places. The building was originally built as a stables and tack store, but has been in its' current use since well before World War II. In case you were wondering, the photograph was not taken from a drone, rather it was taken from one of the windows in the Cross Keys Centre, which is diagonally opposite, in the Erith High Street Conservation Zone. More on what is going on in the conservation zone later. 

I saw in the news earlier in the week that  former Morrison’s supermarket chairman Sir Ken Morrison had died You can read his obituary in The Guardian here. I had not realised that he was ill. He was aged 85. I met him once, though I did not know who he was until I was told. When Morrison’s opened in Erith back in 1999, I went along for a look on the first day of trading. The place was extremely crowded – I think most of the inhabitants of Erith, Slade Green and Northumberland Heath had come along to check out the mysterious new supermarket that had up to this point been based solely in the North of England, and the Erith store was one of their first forays into the South. I queued up at one of the tills (none of the hated automated, self-service checkouts back then) and paid for my goods. An older man stood at the end of the checkout, and kindly packed my bag for me, I thanked him politely and made to leave the store. I noticed that a number of managerial looking types had been hovering near the chap packing the shopping bags; one of them approached me and asked me if I knew who the bag packers was. I replied that I had no idea, but that the man was pretty good – by this time I had twigged that he was not just a humble bag packer, so was not overly surprised when the person told me that it was Sir Ken Morrison, the billionaire top boss of the supermarket chain, who was visiting on the day of the launch of their flagship Erith store. Small world I suppose, so I was saddened to hear of his demise, albeit at a pretty ripe old age.

A new mini crime wave is hitting the local area; restaurants and takeaways are finding that their containers of waste cooking oil are being stolen. Many food outlets use large quantities of cooking oil, which is usually vegetable based. When it has become contaminated, they store it for collection by specialist cooking oil companies, who pay good money to get hold of the oil. Where’s the money on old cooking oil? I hear you ask; well, it makes excellent bio diesel. There is a general perception that cooking oil needs to be specially treated before it can be used in diesel engines. This is actually not true. You can empty a bottle of Mazola or whatever oil you fancy straight into the fuel tank of your diesel vehicle and it will work a treat. The only thing you need to do with old oil is filter out any particles or bits of food – as these can clog up the fuel injectors of the engine. Old fish frying oil actually smells of the chip shop when you burn it in a diesel engine. Some years ago Mercedes Benz commercial vehicle division did some tests on the use of vegetable oil versus conventional diesel in long term use as a fuel. They found that engines run on vegetable oil actually suffered significantly less wear and tear than those run on conventional diesel – this is not much of a surprise, as Vegetable oil is a lubricant, and diesel is a solvent. Vegetable oil also has far Lower levels of harmful particulates than Diesel, a factor of increasing importance nowadays. Vegetable oil has a lower energy density than diesel, so your miles per gallon does drop a bit, but the cost savings are so big that it makes it worthwhile. It is not illegal to power a road vehicle on chip oil, as long as you have declared it to HM Revenue and Customs, filled in the relevant paperwork and paid the excise duty. Obviously the crooks that are currently nicking cooking oil for use as fuel have no intention of doing that – so if you see some shady looking characters in a van smelling of plaice and chips going past, be very suspicious...

The local press, including the News Shopper and the Bexley Times are reporting something that should not really be very much of a surprise. The are saying that house prices in areas close to the Crossrail development have increased rapidly in price, and cite the example of Abbey Wood, where average house prices have increased by roughly £100,000 in the last ten years. The 73-mile line which will link south east London to Berkshire and Buckinghamshire via central London is expected to open in December 2018. In 2007, the average price of a house in Abbey Wood was £179,482. Now the average price £289,468, a rise 61.28 per cent. The rise is above the average for other houses along what will be called the Elizabeth Line when it opens, and well above the national average increase of 25 per cent.

An announcement was made last week that a couple of new ships are being built to replace the current, fifty three year old Woolwich Ferries. Transport for London (TfL) has signed a contract with Polish shipyard Rementowa Shipyard to build the next-gen vessels following a design by Norwegian firm LMG Marin, working with Hampshire firm Keel Marine Ltd. Two ships (the upper of the two photos above shows a marine architect's impression of the new ferry design - click on the image for a larger version) will replace the three which currently work in rotation. The efficiency and reliability of the new ferries will account for the reduction while the design team have been commissioned to strengthen the service’s “green” credentials, with lower emissions when they come into service next year. The move has been put into place as the current ferries are old and pretty much worn out - there was no ferry service last weekend due to a series of mechanical breakdowns, due mainly to the age and difficulty in obtaining spares for machinery which has not been in production for many years. The new vessels, which will be substantially larger than the current ferries, at 60 metres long, with a capacity of 150 passengers and about 45 vehicles, will be designed with a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system. The lithium-ion battery pack will optimise the fuel consumption by allowing one engine to charge the batteries when not powering the propulsion. The new ferries will engage an automatic mooring system at the end of each short journey meaning the fuel-heavy thruster units will be practically redundant while specialist catalytic reduction systems, use of ultra low sulphur diesel and LED lights will help boost the ferries’ green credentials. Erith is home to one of the world's premiere marine engineering companies - Kort Propulsion. They are supplying the custom designed propellers for the two new ferries, which are of a LMG Marin 60-DEH design, each one equipped with a set of four Hydromaster Azimuth thrusters rated at 300 kW, driven by vertical mounted permanent magnet motors from a DC grid system. Hydromaster are also a local company, being based in Thurrock, just across the River Thames in Essex. In 2015 Kort were one of the main organisations involved in the construction of The London Titan (the lower of the two images above - click on it for a larger version) - a 36 metre long vessel for the Port of London Authority. The London Titan is designed as a mooring maintenance vessel. Titan is doing much more than just maintain moorings.  She is equipped to: 1) lay and recover navigation buoys; 2) haul wreckage from the bottom of the river; 3) support diving operations; and 4) to undertake small scale plough dredging operations. On a river that is getting busier with passengers and freight, that capability is essential. Already there are over eight million passenger trips on the Thames every year – the Mayor wants to increase that to 12 million by 2020.  A multi-function vessel, London Titan is much better equipped than the nearly 50-year old vessel she replaces. She has been specially designed for the Thames by UK-based naval architects MacDuff Ship Design, working in close collaboration with PLA marine engineers, masters and crews. The Titan is a vessel able to work along virtually all of the PLA’s 95 miles of the tidal Thames for which the PLA is responsible. She is squat and shallow enough to negotiate bridges as far upriver as Richmond, and robust enough to operate in the outer estuary. A sizable chunk of the £7 million cost of the custom – designed ship will have been in the propulsion and steering work that Kort Propulsion undertook. Great news to see that a specialist local firm is not only contributing to the safety of navigation on the River Thames, but is bringing much needed money into the local economy. It just strikes me as appropriate that two very significant components of the new Woolwich ferries are being manufactured locally. Engines from Thurrock and propellers from Erith's own Kort Propulsion. 

I had quite a response to my piece last week about the freight train derailment at Lewisham, and the deleterious effect that this had on overland trains locally, which in any case have been deteriorating from an already low point over the last year or so. One regular reader called Stephen wrote to me with the following observations:- "I was particularly interested in reading about the derailment at Lewisham, and that you now take the 99 bus and DLR to work. The reason for my email is I also find myself in the same situation as yourself. I personally work in Southwark and to get to work I normally take the 0544hrs B12 bus to Bexleyheath Station and then the 0600 train from there to Waterloo East. I use Bexleyheath station as it costs less being in a different zone.I currently hold a Gold annual season ticket. My gold card expires next week. I have been appalled by the reliability of South Eastern trains over the last 12 month, delays, cancellations, signal failures, broken down trains, derailment at Lewisham and then the train fire at Kidbrooke last week. This year has been the final straw for me with the trains. I have held a Gold Card for 13 years and I will no longer be renewing my season ticket with South Eastern. I know I am not the only person that feels this way! I have also changed to a different mode of transport from next week. I tried last week a different way, which worked well. I will catch the 0525 route 422 bus to North Greenwich and then the Jubilee Line to Southwark. I was really surprised the journey to work is actually quicker by bus and tube. Plus it saves me money overall!! I am only a minority that may be changing travel plans, I just wish many more would do the same and show South Eastern how we have had enough. Sorry to rant on and on, but this has been annoying me for a while". I think that many commuters have been spurred to look for other means of travelling to and from London, and Stephen is far from alone in this respect. I have also heard from a confidential source that the cause of the freight train derailment is pretty much already known, though it cannot be officially published until a full report from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch is completed. My source writes:- "It should be worth noting, that after investigation by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) a number of recent freight train derailments have been caused by poor maintenance of rail wagons. It will take a while to get a full report of why this accident took place, indeed it appears that repairs had taken place at this junction only recently".  Interesting stuff indeed. If it does come to light that the derailment was caused by a lack of preventative maintenance on the freight wagons, this would tend to concur with my own casual observations; on many occasions I have been on a passenger train whilst a freight train passed by; it has not been uncommon for one or more of the freight wagons to have wheels that emit an ear - splitting screech of metal on metal - it sounds as if the wheel bearings are often completely lacking in grease, although we will have to wait until the full and complete RAIB report is published for the accident before we will be in possession of the complete facts.

The second series of BBC TV's "Top Gear" made without Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May is scheduled to start transmission in the next few weeks, though at present the BBC have not yet published a commencement date. After replacement lead presenter Chris Evans left the show after one season of utterly woeful ratings where they started the season on the low side, then promptly went into freefall thereafter, it will be instructive to see how the show will fare now that The Grand Tour has now aired on Amazon Prime. The Grand Tour is basically Top Gear under a new name and with a massively increased budget, and presented by the original "Three Amigos" on web based broadcaster Amazon Prime. I get the feeling that the BBC will have a real challenge to make anything of old Top Gear, now that The Grand Tour has absolutely ridden over it so completely. I think that they have two choices - either re - imagine Top Gear as a completely different car show - perhaps going down the route of making it a serious factual programme about cars, or they admit defeat and cancel it completely. I understand that after the ratings collapse during Chris Evans' tenure, the commercial rate at which the BBC has been able to sell Top Gear to foreign broadcasters has drastically reduced, meaning that they may well be stuck in a vicious circle - lower ratings mean less income, which means less money to spend on a show which at best has around a tenth of the budget of The Grand Tour, and also lacks the charismatic original three presenters. Personally I think the Beeb should pull the plug on Top Gear and walk away with a few shreds of dignity still intact.

I am pleased to say that Erith is currently being converted from the old and energy inefficient sodium incandescent street lights to much more economical and efficient LED lighting. Chief among the advantages of LEDs is that they have extremely long lives -- they don't have filaments that can quickly burn out -- and they don't contain toxic chemicals like mercury, unlike traditional high-pressure sodium lamps or mercury-vapour lamps. An LED light can last 100,000 hours. These lights also have reduced maintenance costs because of their long lives, and they give off less heat than other bulbs. Because they last so long, LEDs are suitable for places where replacing light bulbs is expensive, inconvenient or otherwise difficult. LEDs are highly energy efficient. While compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) recently have been touted as the standard in green lighting, LEDs actually have double their energy efficiency. They use 15 percent of the energy of an incandescent bulb while generating more light per watt. LEDs produce 80 lumens per watt; traditional streetlights can only muster 58 lumens per watt. Another less well publicised benefit is that LED lights have a clean white light that does not distort colour; one side effect of the old sodium lighting was that it gave an orange / yellow cast to objects that they lit; this had an effect of making the judgement of distance between cars more difficult. LED lighting may actually make for safer roads, as well as saving a huge amount in running costs. The down side of LED street lighting is that it can cause an increase in light pollution, as the light output per Watt of energy is so much higher than with older technologies, but it is generally felt that the benefits far outweigh the down sides. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Information has finally come to light regarding the redevelopment / refurbishment of the old White Hart / Potion Bar – a subject that has been vexing many locals for a very long time. On Thursday I received a couple of very informative Emails from a lady called Sharon who had uncovered some documents on the Bexley Council Planning website – something that had eluded me for some reason. It turns out that the building is now owned by The Wellington Pub Company – a pub co that specialises in turning around “challenging” pubs in areas that other companies avoid. The official description of the works to be carried out is as follows:- "Conversion of upper floors of Potion Bar into 1 x 2 and 1 x 3 bed flats and the erection of a two storey building plus basement comprising 4 x 1 bed and 2 x 2 bed apartments and 1 x 3 bed duplex with associated parking and amenity space". As you can see above, the plans for a replica frontage to replace the hideous plate glass frontage illegally installed (see the upper photo) against planning laws by the owners of Potion have now been finalised, and are far more detailed and complete than the drawing I published a couple of years ago. The new frontage closely resembles the original (see the lower of the two images above - click on it for a larger version), and will be a massive improvement to the appearance of the historic building. Work on removing the illegal plate glass frontage and installing the replica of the original Victorian design began on Friday, and will continue into next week and most likely beyond. It is about time that the old building got some sympathetic attention, as it has been unloved and ignored for far too long. I can clearly recall the horror I felt when back in 2009 I was standing outside of the corner by Matalan, looking across the road to the White Hart as the criminals from Potion talked to the borough planning officer about the work that they were undertaking. I clearly heard the council official tell the crooks that they were to leave the existing period White Hart pub sign in place, as it had historical and aesthetic significance. Literally moments after the planning officer drove off, one of the Potion workers got out a large angle grinder and cut down the protected sign and threw it into a nearby skip. From this point I knew Erith was in for trouble; sadly I was not wrong. After several years of drug dealing, fights, public drunkenness – and even a visit by Peter Andre, the venue closed after a series of enforcement notices by both Bexley Council and the Metropolitan Police. It was also convenient for the operators of Potion to declare themselves bankrupt, as it absolved them from having to restore the historic building frontage, as per two court orders that they successfully ignored. Strangely no mention is made in the newly available redevelopment documentation of what is planned for the existing bar area - the documents only cover the upper floors and development in what is now the (currently unused) garden of the pub. What the plans for the ground floor bar are, I really don't know. Suggestions were made around eighteen months ago that the ground floor could be converted into an Indian Restaurant, but that turned out to be a dead end - perhaps wishful thinking on someone's part? More recently I have heard rumours that an ice cream / smoothie chain were looking at the ground floor space. I could see this working - after all, you do not need to install lots of expensive and complex fume extraction equipment if you are only serving cool or frozen food. Whilst it would not exactly be to my taste, I could see an ice cream restaurant being popular locally. If you have any additional information, please drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Morrison’s in Erith have been in the local press for all of the wrong reasons last week; As has been widely reported in the News Shopper, a three year old boy was seriously injured in the store after slipping on a transparent vegetable bag which was on the floor. The little boy had extensive injuries, including a badly broken femur. Morrison’s deny responsibility, saying that they check the floor for loose bags and other objects every thirty minutes, as the health and safety legislation requires, and that the bag must have been dropped on the floor between the half hourly checks. To be honest, the bags, which are usually found in the fresh fruit and vegetable area are often dropped on the floor by customers. It is a difficult case – you can read all of the details on the News Shopper website here. I do find that once again, some of the comments left by readers on the story are reprehensible – there are a number of trolls deliberately posting inflammatory stories in the hope of eliciting responses. Quite what motivates people to do this, goodness only knows.

The ending video this week features several layouts at the 2017 Erith Model Railway Society Exhibition, which was held in the main hall at Longfield Academy. See what you think and either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Jetty.

I took the two photos above earlier this week; they depict the damage done recently to the old Erith wooden jetty adjacent to Erith Riverside Gardens. The Port of London Authority and The Marine Police Force are currently investigating the circumstances of the serious "hit and run" collision which has effectively cut the historic jetty in half, and has meant that it is currently out of use. The PLA have published a Notice to Mariners which states:- "Mariners are advised that ERITH CAUSEWAY is currently out of action and is not to be used. Damage sustained to the structure has rendered it unsafe and it will remain out of use until repairs have been undertaken. Further details of when work is being undertaken, as well as any temporary restrictions to passing traffic will be included on the regular London VTS River broadcast on VHF Channel 14. For the latest information contact London VTS on VHF Channel 14 or by telephone on 0208 855 0315". The precise cause of the damage is still unknown - it would appear that a sizable vessel must have collided with the jetty, but at the time of writing, nobody has come forward, and there would appear to be no witnesses. I would imagine that The Marine Police Force are checking with all of the marine engineering yards on the Thames and beyond for evidence of a ship with damaged bows. I understand that it is a navigational incident investigation and may have to be dealt with through insurance, as it could be expensive. The PLA apparently have some idea of who may have been responsible, but no one at present has admitted liability. My sources indicate that it is doubtful that the jetty will be back in use before the end of January. Hopefully I will have more on this mystery soon. If you have any additional information, you can contact me in confidence by Emailing me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

It would appear that fraudsters are at it again; the latest in a long line of ATM cons has been reported in Dartford - and if it has appeared there, it is likely that it will be seen in other local towns. In essence, some cash machines have been found to have illegally been fitted with a device which retains the users card when they insert it in the machine. The criminal then retrieves the card and empties the bank account of the victim - they have already observed the PIN number being entered prior to the theft. The device which retains the victim's cash card is referred to as a Lebanese Loop. A Lebanese loop is a device used to commit fraud and identity theft by exploiting automated teller machines (ATMs). In its simplest form, it is a strip or sleeve of metal or plastic which blocks the ATM's card slot, causing any inserted card to be apparently retained by the machine, allowing it to be retrieved by the fraudster when the cardholder leaves. Its name comes from its regular use amongst Lebanese financial crime perpetrators, although it has since spread to other international criminal groups. The scam has been reported in countries with high numbers of ATMs such as the UK, the United States, Germany and France. Police officers in Dartford received the report that two devices had been placed inside ATMs in Hythe Street on the 29th December. These devices were successfully removed, and I understand that investigations continue. The Lebanese Loop fraud is widespread - the term “Lebanese loop” is applied to any number of similar devices that are used to perpetrate ATM fraud by retaining the user's card. In their simplest form, Lebanese loops consist of a strip or sleeve of metal or plastic (even something as simple as a strip of video cassette tape) that is inserted into the ATM's card slot. Some loops have a covering fascia which appears superficially to be part of the ATM, while others are simply a length of dark-coloured tape with glue strips to hold it temporarily inside an ATM slot. Lebanese Loop devices are relatively simple to construct, requiring less technical skill than a card skimming technique. When the victim inserts their ATM card, the loop is long and narrow enough that the ATM machinery can still fully draw the card in and read it. The victim then enters their personal identification number (PIN) as normal, and requests the funds. The ATM then tries to eject the card, the loop device prevents the card from being ejected, either with a flap covering the fascia's slot, or a diagonal slit in the tape which catches against the card. The machine senses that the card has not been ejected, and draws the card back into the machine. The cash drawer does not open, and the money that has been counted is retained by the machine. In most cases, the victim's account is not debited. The victim believes the machine has malfunctioned or genuinely retained their card. In a typical scam, the perpetrator will obtain the victim's PIN either by watching them enter it the first time (shoulder surfing), or by approaching the victim under the pretence of offering help and suggesting they re-enter their PIN (and again, watching them do so). More sophisticated variants of the Lebanese loop scam have developed. In some cases, the fraudsters attach a small camera to the ATM to record the victim entering their PIN. The video from this camera is then transmitted to the fraudsters, who may be waiting near the machine and viewing the video on a laptop computer, meaning they need not approach the victim directly. There have been cases where a fake keypad is fitted to the machine over the top of the real one, and this records the PINs entered. Once the victim has left the area, the perpetrator retrieves the loop and the trapped card, and uses it, along with the stolen PIN, to withdraw cash from the victim's account. Now that this has been identified in Dartford, it is highly likely we will see the fraud carried out in places such as Bexleyheath Broadway; it is advised for ATM users to be especially vigilant whilst withdrawing cash - look for any attachments to the machine that should not be there, and beware of anyone getting too close whilst you are using the ATM. Newer cash machines are fitted with technology to minimise the effects of the Lebanese Loop, but lots of older machines are still in use all over the country. If you have had any experience of this kind of criminal activity, leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The poster above is to promote a new Building Futures course due to run shortly in the borough.  It is aimed at giving unemployed people an introduction to working in construction. Applicants for the free two week course need to be at least nineteen years of age, unemployed, and receiving some form of benefit. Contact details for the course, which will run from the 13th to the 24th of February are on the graphic above.

It would seem that it is not just PC’s that are vulnerable to ransomware – malicious software that encrypts the files on your device, demanding a ransom payment to un-encrypt them (or not as the case may be). Now ransomware has been reported on certain LG Smart Televisions. A programmer in the USA found that after his wife downloaded an app which promised to stream free movies to their LG television, a notice purporting to be from the FBI was displayed on the screen, saying that suspicious files were found and the user had been fined. The obvious ransomware rendered the TV inoperable, which he managed to fix using the below simple steps that may apply to other LG Smart Televisions. To perform a factory hard reset – (something that is not documented in the user manual, and is not widely known), one needs to reach around to the rear of the TV screen and do the following:-  "With the TV powered off, place one finger on the settings symbol then another finger on the channel down symbol. Remove finger from settings, then from channel down, and navigate using volume keys to the wipe data/ factory reset option. This will return any LG Smart TV to a “factory new” condition". Any software will be removed from the TV, and all settings and preferences will need to be re – done – it will remove any malware from the TV, so this may well be a small price to pay. This kind of malware infection is likely to become more widespread, as more devices get connected to the web as part of the “internet of things”. To illustrate this, the Chaos Communications Congress is the world’s oldest hacker conference, and Europe’s largest. Every year, thousands of hackers gather in Hamburg to share stories, trade tips and discuss the political, social and cultural ramifications of technology. At the latest congress, several bold (and worrying claims were made - with evidence to back them up). You may recall that I have published warnings about things like Smart Utility Meters in the recent past; well, my relatively mild warnings about hackers accessing your meter due to weak or nonexistent security, and the fact that the cost of deployment is going to exceed the cash saving to the individual. This has been put in the shade by delegates at the Chaos Communication  Congress:- Netanel Rubin, co-founder of the security firm Vaultra, presented his research on smart meters, electricity meters that coordinate with the utility company and other meters on the same network to ensure that the power grid of a city is fit for the 21st century. Rubin managed to intercept the communications between the smart meter and the utilities company itself. That would enable billing fraud (either stealing free electricity, or maliciously increasing the bills of victims), as well as privacy invasions. Things get worse if a user has other smart devices in their house, such as a smart door lock. “Imagine you woke up to find you’d been robbed by a burglar who didn’t have to break in,” Rubin said. At its worst, he argued, a hacked smart meter could cause explosions or house fires. The devices are designed with the goal of rendering that an impossibility, but then, they are also designed with the goal of rendering hacking them impossible. Not every design goal is achieved. Rubin then went on with some even more alarming news. He claimed the Smart Meter gear uses weak encryption, relies on easily cracked protocols, and can be programmed to explode. The software vulnerability hunter derided global efforts to roll out the meters as reckless, saying the "dangerous" devices are a risk to all connected smart home devices. Smart meters can communicate with networked devices inside homes, such as air conditioners, fridges, and the like. A hacker who could infiltrate the internet-connected meters could control those gadgets and appliances and potentially unlock doors. They could also manipulate the meter's code to cause fires, something that's trivially easy using mains supplies, Rubin claimed. You'd be forgiven for thinking fuses would prevent such a blaze, although the researcher is convinced the hardware can be tricked into overexerting itself and exploding. "An attacker who controls the meter also controls its software, allowing them to literally blow the meter up," he told the Congress in Hamburg, Germany, last month. "If an attacker could hack your meter, he could have access to all the devices connected to the meter. The smart meter network in its current state is completely exposed to attackers. All meters of the same utility use the same basic security credentials," Rubin told the applauding audience. "One key to rule them all." Worse, Rubin found smart meters that hand over critical network keys when communicating with home devices without checking if the gadgets should be trusted. This opens an avenue for criminals to set up equipment that masquerades as home devices, steals the keys, and impersonates meters. "You can communicate with and control any device in the house from way across the street, open up locks, cause a short in the electricity system, whatever we want to do. A simple segmentation fault is enough to crash the meter, causing a blackout at the premises," Rubin said. Rubin was accused of fear-mongering by the conference's audience. He shot back that he wanted to grab the public's attention with dire warnings of exploding boxes - however rare that might turn out to be.

Regular readers will be aware of how much I like "then and now" photographs of the local area; the upper of the two photos above was taken in July 1966, and it shows what Erith Riverside Gardens looked like then. The lower photo shows what the gardens looked like on Thursday of this week. Unfortunately due to physical changes in the garden layout, I was unable to get a shot from the very same position as that in the original, but it is close enough for an easy comparison.

You may recall that back in 2014 I wrote extensively about Enderby House, and the nearby Enderby's Wharf where from the 1850’s to the 1970’s the home of undersea telecommunications cable manufacturing near the Thames riverfront and the Blackwall Tunnel. Barratt Homes have been redeveloping much of this site into a residential area; at present there is a fight going on to preserve Enderby House - Barratt want to turn the listed building into a pub / restaurant, whilst the local conservation group wants to turn it into a museum of telecommunications and a community centre. Barratt have already demolished most of the undersea cable winding section of the factory, and more is likely to go soon. The very first intercontinental communications technology was created and manufactured on the site; The first telegraph cable to France was laid in 1850 after tremendous efforts to find technologies that worked. Until 1970s the cable was made here in Greenwich and loaded onto cable-laying ships moored on the riverside using the equipment that is still in place on the shore today. Enderby House became crucial to the history of the world’s communications after the Atlantic Telegraph Company was set up in 1856 to provide a telegraph link between the old and new worlds. Initially the cables were used to carry Morse Code signals for the fledgling telegraph industry; later voice and teleprinter data capability was added; nowadays the world’s data networks are run by millions of miles of high capacity fibre optic cable - which was invented by a Hong Kong born British / American citizen called Dr. Charles Kao. He attended Woolwich Polytechnic, and in the 1960’s invented the entire field of fibre optic data transmission technology, without which the modern high speed Internet would be impossible. Charles Kao and his work in the pioneering field of optical digital communications gained him a number of awards, including a Knighthood, and the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics. His cables were made and then were wound onto giant drums at Enderby Wharf, where they were then loaded onto cable laying ships, ready to be laid on the sea bed of the world’s oceans. The Enderby Wharf factory made 82 percent of the world’s undersea cable until the late 1950’s when other manufacturing facilities took on a greater role. There is still a factory owned by Alcatel Lucent on the site behind Enderby House, but now it only makes undersea cable switching and control gear, rather than the cables themselves, which are now manufactured at other locations. Enderby House has been sold by Alcatel Lucent to Barratt’s, and is now in a very shabby and damaged state; the empty building, though listed, has been repeatedly vandalised by local knuckle dragging morons. You can join the conservation group working to preserve this very historic building by clicking here.

Over the last four or five years, I have noticed that the number of local houses with ambitious and showy exterior Christmas decorations has markedly decreased. There used to be an escalating cold war between a number of homeowners to see who could make the most extravagant and over the top lighting display. As the lights have now come down after the holiday period, it got me thinking. Now common sense (and perhaps better taste) have prevailed. Most displays nowadays are more discreet. I think the reasons for this are multiple; the cost of electricity has increased markedly in the intervening time, and metal thefts have skyrocketed – and nothing attracts a metal thief more than electrical cable, packed to the gills as it is with high quality copper. On top of this I think that in these times of cutbacks and redundancies, people are reluctant to appear as a conspicuous consumer. On top of these factors, I think that technology has also had an influence. Modern Christmas lights are now LED rather than incandescent bulb based, and these LED lights seem to be more subtle and discreet – as well as using a hell of a lot less electricity.

It would seem that we are now almost certainly not going to see any of the "Boris Buses" in the London Borough of Bexley. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced that no further of the buses are to be purchased. I cannot say that I am particularly surprised; the handful of existing buses have been somewhat of a disappointment - the New Routemasters have come under sustained criticism for design faults such as overheating for passengers in summer and emitting more pollution than their predecessors did, due to unreliable hybrid batteries. In July 2015 the BBC reported a high level of battery failure, with 80 New Routemasters operating in diesel-only mode. 200 New Routemasters have at least some failing batteries, which will be replaced under warranty. An improved battery design is being introduced. The New Routemasters emit more harmful particles than the buses they replaced. London mayoral candidate and transport expert Christian Wolmar, who first revealed problems with the New Routemasters, said in July 2015: "This is further evidence that this project was misconceived from the start. I have been told that drivers have been complaining about the failed batteries since August last year and yet nothing has been done. It is no surprise the emissions are higher than those on conventional buses as the New Bus for London is not operating as designed. It is supposed to be powered by an electric motor, but instead is using its inefficient diesel engine that should, in normal conditions, be running at constant speed". Most of the routes being serviced by the New Routemaster buses are in Central, East and North London, and none are running on any route in either the London Borough of Bexley or Royal Borough of Greenwich. A single New Routemaster was tested locally a couple of years ago - rather unsuccessfully, as it turned out. It was stuck at the bus halt in front of Erith Riverside Shopping Centre, effectively blocking Bexley Road, and the passage of any other traffic. I spoke to the driver, who was out of the cab. It turned out that the bus computer had crashed, and he could not get it to reboot; a bus fitter from Bexleyheath bus garage had come to take a look, but he could not fathom the problem - the only item working on the bus were the emergency flashers - everything else had completely locked up. A specialist engineer had been called, but was having to travel down from their depot at Waterloo. It did not bode well for the future.

Something seems to be happening in the London Borough of Lewisham which could set a precedent that could then end up affecting residents of the London Borough of Bexley. Lewisham Council seem to be working on a policy of compulsorily purchasing land used for sporting and entertainment venues, then selling the land off to property developers. Millwall Football Club have admitted for the first time that they may be forced to leave their South East London home and relocate to Kent should the seizure of their land go ahead. Lewisham council’s plan to compulsorily purchase areas around the Den and sell them onto a mysterious offshore developer with connections to the current Labour administration has already drawn both disbelief and mass protest. With the compulsory purchase order likely to be confirmed at a council meeting next Wednesday Millwall have conceded publicly for the first time the club could have to leave the area that has been their home since 1910. What concerns me is that should this go ahead, other London councils may copy this behaviour, and grab land used for other sports arenas and opens spaces to sell off for easy cash from property developers eager to build yet more box - like flats to make as much money as possible - not only would the council gain immediate cash from the sale of the land, but they would have a continuous new revenue stream from the annual council tax receipts. Bexley Council have a well - known reputation for acting in this manner already, and if Lewisham get their way, this will only spur them onto take similar actions themselves. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The ending video this week is a short clip from the most recent episode of The Grand Tour - the mega budget Amazon Prime replacement for Top Gear with the three presenters who left the BBC. If you have not seen The Grand Tour before, it is basically Top Gear on a massively increased budget; each week the three presenters travel the world in a giant tent, putting on the show in a different country each week. If you liked Top Gear (before that smarmy, self important git Chris Evans briefly took over), then you will love The Grand Tour. Here Jeremy creates his ideal hybrid sports car / off road vehicle by adding the body from a classic Mercedes Benz SL to the chassis and running gear from a Land Rover Discovery. For some reason James and Richard are a little less than impressed...

Proper Top Gear.

The photos above (thanks Ian) were taken last night at The Mick Jagger Centre in Dartford. They show Genesis tribute band Los Endos performing the whole of the Genesis "A Trick of the Tail" concert set from the 1976 world tour, to commemorate its 40th anniversary this year. The gig was a sell - out, and The Mick Jagger Centre was packed. The venue has had a refurbishment since my last visit, and it is much improved - the toilets especially have been greatly enlarged - so no queues when going for a leak in the interval. If you have not visited the local performing arts centre, I can highly recommend it. There are events to satisfy all musical and theatrical tastes, and it is also conveniently nearby.

I rarely comment on items in the national press; the main reason for this is that they will have already been covered in detail by "proper" journalists, leaving very little for me to bring to the table. I am making a notable exception this week. As regular readers may recall, I refused to watch the Chris Evans and Matt Le Blanc relaunched version of Top Gear earlier this year. I am of the opinion that almost any television programme is far greater than the sum of its parts, and that presenters can come and go - if the show is sufficiently strong, it can survive all sorts of changes in cast, crew, director and producer - a couple of prime examples of this are Coronation Street and Doctor Who. There is one exception to this rule, which the BBC have now found out to their great cost. Top Gear was Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. The BBC somehow got the erroneous impression that Top Gear was a car show with presenters who could be replaced at will. In fact it was a show about the three presenters acting like eight year old boys, larking about, bickering and falling over. The car element was entirely incidental. Now the trinity of presenters have moved to Amazon Prime and an (ostensibly) new show called The Grand Tour - which is basically Top Gear touring the world on an astronomical budget. The Producer is still Andy Wilman, and the technical crew are largely defectors from the BBC who worked on the original show. The Chris Evans / Matt LeBlanc BBC version has already catastrophically crashed and burned, with microscopic viewing figures - to the point where Chris Evans left the show after one series. After the launch this week of the rival The Grand Tour, I would imagine that BBC executives are wondering whether to throw good money after bad - The Grand Tour (already termed "Proper Top Gear") is so much better that is is in an entirely different league. Critical reception of The Grand Tour has been almost universally positive, only the BBC review being somewhat cool - but sour grapes are to be expected, I suppose. The BBC Top Gear reboot has been likened to the Director's cut of "Star Wars - The Phantom Menace" with extra scenes of Jar Jar Binks - whereas The Grand Tour has been likened to "Star Wars - The Force Awakens". Make of that what you will. I took out an Amazon Prime membership purely to watch The Grand Tour - all of the other benefits are welcome, but entirely incidental. Off the soap box now, and normal service is resumed. 

Last week I opened the debate about the right of the public to buy and use for private use. Since 2003, under 18’s have been prohibited from buying or using fireworks. The measures come under the Fireworks Act 2003, which also bars any member of the public from possessing high-powered "category four" fireworks of the kind used in professional displays. Now many activists, animal lovers and others have been campaigning for a further strengthening of the law, and as a result Police have been getting tougher with people using fireworks illegally. The clampdown is intended to tackle the problem of anti-social behaviour involving fireworks, Further hard line enforcement is due to come into force next year, including curfews on the setting off of fireworks, recognised training for display operators and the introduction of a tougher licensing system for suppliers. Since the article I wrote last week about the problem use of fireworks, which runs from mid-October until mid-January nowadays, I have had a considerable amount of feedback, almost all of it supporting the concept of a complete ban on members of the public buying or using fireworks at all. I have since discovered that Canada, South Africa and Australia have limitations or bans on private firework displays and the UK needs to seriously consider if it needs to follow suit. I was also made aware by a reader that an organised campaign to get heavy restrictions on the sale and use of fireworks is already under way.  A UK Government petition has been started, which describes itself thus:- “Ban the sale of fireworks to the public and only approve organised displays. Every year 1000's of people are hurt, burnt, maimed and even lose their lives through accidents involving fireworks.  Every year people are terrorised by the misuse of fireworks. Every year animals are hurt and traumatised by fireworks.  Ban them please”. You can see the petition by clicking here. 

It would seem that the waste incinerator in Lower Belvedere (see the photo above - click for a larger view) is going have its input ramped up by a very significant degree in the near future. Reports in the local press – both the Bexley Times and the News Shopper are featuring the story – say that the number of lorries carrying waste from other London boroughs to be incinerated at the Cory plant in Lower Belvedere. The owners of the Norman Road plant are already bringing in 660,000 tonnes of waste per year by river but want to boost its share by road up to 195,000 tonnes - a 129 percent increase. It was discussed recently at a council meeting that the energy waste company, Cory, which oversees the operators Riverside Resource Recovery Limited (RRRL), wants an additional 56 trucks - or an average of 4 vehicle trips an hour - brought to North Bexley’s roads. The motion was put forward chiefly to mitigate the possible loss of its contract at Northumberland Wharf in Tower Hamlets. Cory currently processes 100,000 tonnes of waste per annum onto the river via Northumberland Wharf. It is worried that it may lose access to its Northumberland site if its owners, the council of Tower Hamlets, decides to operate its own waste contract.  The News Shopper reported that Bexley Councillor David Leaf said "I have some quite grave reservations about this application. The contingency was for emergency only in terms of being able to use the road network. What concerns me is in relation to issue about the Northumberland Wharf being out, now clearly if you are a big business making a huge investment, we’re talking hundreds of millions of pounds, you would do your risk analysis and you would calculate what would happen if one of our main wharfs go out? Clearly there hasn’t been any contingency planning and Bexley residents are going to end up feeling the brunt of that. I’m very concerned and apprehensive about that.” What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Another new block of flats is planned close to the site of Abbey Wood Station – and the news has not pleased many local people. The new block (if the planning application is approved – and I suspect that it will be) will be 29 storeys high, and will contain 208 apartments and a 90 bed hotel. The scheme has been drawn up by developers HUB in partnership with Bridges Ventures. Pending planning approval the developers aim to start work on the site in the summer of 2017. I already have the feeling that these apartments will be mainly bought up by absentee owners, many from abroad who will look to "land bank" them as investments. They are certainly not the kind of properties that many local residents will be able to afford, more is the shame. 

I am somewhat surprised at Bexley Council’s recent announcement of a pre – Christmas pop – up cinema to be held on the Erith Riverside Gardens on Saturday the 26th November from 4.30pm. The announcement on the Bexley Council website says:- “Riverside Gardens is hosting a fantastic, free pop-up cinema screening for the community. The fun starts with Home Alone (PG) at 4.30pm followed by Gremlins (12A) at 6:30pm, with a short break in between. Bring along chairs and blankets to keep warm and comfortable. Hot food and drink will be available to buy from local chefs and businesses.” Admission to the event is free. As I mentioned last week, I had hoped that the event would be held in a large marquee or other temporary structure on the site; the wording of the council piece does not fill me with confidence in this respect. The venue is ideal in many ways, but it is very exposed, and is one of, if not the coldest place in the whole of the town, with the wind coming straight off the River Thames. I am also concerned that it is now only a week before the event, and very little if any publicity has been noticeable – I would have expected far more advertising and promotion of what could be an excellent community event. I do have some suspicions that once again Erith is being “set up to fail” – as happened with the recent unsuccessful relaunch of Erith Market. On that occasion, the relaunch of the market was done with a little bit of publicity (some of which came from me) but the market was only held on Wednesdays, not on Saturdays, something that a regular reader pointed out:- “I hear are giving Erith Market a trial go. When they know it will fail before they start. They only seem to be catering for the unemployed and the elderly. Because they are the only one that can go to the market. The market should have been bigger and on Wednesdays and Saturdays like it used to be. Saturdays for the people that go to work all week”. My anonymous reader’s comments turned out to be prophetic; the first week there were eight stall holders on the piece of land adjacent to Morrison’s car park; the next week six, and it petered out until no stalls appeared by the end of the first month. As I have previously written, plans are afoot to relaunch the market on a far more ambitious scale, although it will be some time in the new year before this comes to pass. I get the feeling that the pop – up cinema is similarly being set up to fail – with only a week to go, very few local residents – especially those with children – appear to be aware of the existence of the event. I can only hope that the council pull out the stops at the last minute – otherwise the pop – up cinema could show to a handful of hardy people only. It would certainly enable to council to not carry out any further community events in Erith, citing a lack of interest from local people. I really want the event to be a great success, but the track record of Bexley Council in regard of public events in and around Erith does not inspire me with confidence. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The recent road resurfacing works in and around Erith Town Centre caused considerable confusion and disruption to motorists; in an email to members of Erith Town Forum. Local councillors Joe Ferreira, Abena Oppong – Asare and Edward Boateng wrote “There was much disruption last week with road works taking place at Queens Road Roundabout. These works had started at 7pm and ended each night at 2am. Disruption included long tail backs, drivers driving the wrong way up and down the one-way Erith High Street and drivers cutting through Erith Town Centre car park as a shortcut only to then go against the flow of the diversion route. Each night we raised these matters with the relevant officers overseeing the work, and although the disruption continued, some of the issues improved with additional signage put out including No Through Road signs to the car parks and the congestion clearing quicker. Thankfully the works have since completed”. I must admit that I did not realise just how much disruption that the roadworks caused. I don’t live in the town centre, but on the outskirts – it does sound like the resurfacing could have been planned with more care and less disruption.

I came across the advert above in an old map of Erith that I have had for absolutely ages. It was old when I was given it. Hedley Mitchell was the largest and by far the most important shop in the old Victorian Erith town centre. It was the towns' department store, and as large and grand as Hides in Bexleyheath. Many older local residents recall Hedley Mitchell with great affection. The store had a very high reputation for formal service. It was the first building to be demolished when work began to create the new (and subsequently much hated) brutalist concrete shopping centre in 1966. In fact the first act of demolition was carried out by the then Deputy Mayor, Councillor Mrs M Barron, ceremoniously smashed the window of Hedley Mitchell's store to mark the commencement of the demolition of Erith Town Centre to make way for redevelopment. As a consequence, all the existing Victorian buildings were lost. With hindsight, this was a terrible mistake - the existing town centre should have been sympathetically restored. I gather that this was considered, but would have cost too much money; instead they built a relatively cheap but undeniably ugly replacement out of bare concrete. I don't know anyone who had a good word to say about it. Consequently a lot of businesses upped sticks and moved to Bexleyheath or Northumberland Heath, and it is only now, nearly fifty years later that much of the social and economic damage is being put right. The current Erith Riverside Shopping Centre is actually a very clever redesign of the much hated sixties structure, rather than a ground up new build, but it has been done with taste and sensitivity - something entirely missing in the original, which was a smelly and soulless concrete monstrosity, detested by all.

Interestingly, in the same message to members of the Erith Town Forum, the councillors state that the old Carnegie Library building in Walnut Tree Road is under consideration for a change of use:-  “The Council are looking to find a suitable operator for the Carnegie Building to bring it back into use as a high quality skills and training centre, and are actively pursuing potential operators. More will obviously follow on this as we get it. In addition, some works to maintain the building’s fabric and general upkeep will be carried out between November 2016 and January 2017”. It is not clear at present what Wetherspoon’s are planning – when I spoke to them a couple of months ago, they were very cagey – which is understandable, as they are a commercial operation where advance information of their intentions could be potentially damaging to their business. I made a few educated guesses as to potential locations for a Wetherspoon’s outlet in Erith – after all, the one thing that they did confess to me was that they were indeed looking at the town as a potential site for a new pub. My guesses settled on the Carnegie Library and The Running Horses in Erith High Street, overlooking the Riverside Gardens. As far as I am aware, no decision has been made at this point, though I will be asking more questions of them in the future. 

One of the once common features of Erith has largely disappeared - mostly for the better. Up until June of 2014 mobile scrap collecting vans were one of the commonest sights on the roads of the town. I mentioned this to a friend, and he commented on how the once very familiar scrap collecting vans had all but disappeared, almost overnight. He was entirely correct; before the start of June 2014, the roads of Erith were flooded with “Scrappies” – small vans, usually based on a Ford Transit chassis that were crewed by a wide variety of people – but always men. I have never seen a female scrap van driver. If you walked down Manor Road at around 7am on a weekday morning, you would see whole convoys of these vehicles as they left their depot on the Wallhouse Industrial Estate on the Slade Green Marshes. The biggest local scrap company by far was City Scrap; I would have said that prior to June 2014, around eighty five percent of scrap vehicles in the area were theirs. As you may recall I wrote at the time, Police and Revenue and Customs officials raided the offices and yard of City Scrap after finding strong evidence of a series of frauds and tax evasion, including an insurance fraud worth around £30,000. On top of the list of forty five offences the owners were charged with were making a false statement to obtain insurance, perverting the course of justice, and making a false statement to obtain  a scrap metal licence. I also understand that many of the scrap lorry driver / operators were claiming benefits whilst working, as well as other offences. All in all the closure of City Scrap was a necessity; they were operating well outside of the law. What surprises me in the two and a half years since City Scrap were officially wound up as a company, no other scrap dealer has emerged to occupy the void left by the once dominant, if corrupt firm. OK, scrap recycling giant Scrapco have moved into a depot in Landau Way, in the Darent Business Park, but they seem to mainly be involved in commercial and industrial scrap from large organisations - they don't get involved with domestic scrap collection, s they are not a direct replacement for the defunct City Scrap. Metal recycling is a vital part both of the local economy, and it also has great environmental benefits, so a new company taking over the business makes sense in a number of ways. Before June 2014, if you left a scrap of metal anywhere in Erith it would disappear in moments. I recall that back in 2009 I had a new central heating boiler installed. Part of the process involved flushing the existing radiators of accumulated sludge and treating them with a rust inhibitor; a special pump had to be fitted to the lowest point in the heating circuit – in my case, one of the radiators in the living room. This was carefully removed and taken outside by the heating engineers. Despite the radiator being laid on a tarpaulin and two heating company vans being parked outside, in the space of the two hour flushing period I had a total of seven scrappies trying to take the radiator, even though it was obvious it had only been temporarily removed whilst work was carried out. One even accused me of taking food from his children’s mouths when I caught him trying to steal the radiator. He soon shut up and ran off when I told him that he was being recorded on CCTV! Nowadays it has all changed – a friend had a dead fridge freezer and left it in their front garden for four days before a scrap dealer removed it. The local scrap market seems to have dried up - which is not good news for those wishing to recycle old appliances and the like, and is not good for the environment.

The end video this week features the 2016 Erith Model Railway Society exhibition. Another event that you might possible like to add to your calendar is the forthcoming Bexley Model Railway Show, which will be held at Bexleyheath Academy, Graham Road Entrance, Bexleyheath, Kent, DA6 7EG on Sunday the 11th December between 10am and 4pm. There will be a number of layouts and traders at the exhibition. Refreshments, free parking and disabled access are available. Admission: £6 (£4.95 pre booked) £5 (£3.95 pre booked) and Family £15 (£12 pre booked). Contact telephone number is:- 020 8694 1888.